Unemployment falls in March in Catalonia and occupation approaches records

BarcelonaRegistered unemployment in the public employment services in Catalonia fell by 3,777 people in March compared to the previous month, according to data published this Monday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy. Thus, the number of unemployed people in Catalonia at the end of last month was 323,476, 1.15% less than the previous month. Employment grew again and the number of affiliates to Social Security in Catalonia exceeded 3.88 million people, approaching the historical highs of 3.9 million last summer. In Catalonia, there are 75,961 more employed people than a year ago (+2%) and 32,415 more than in February (+0.84%). During March, 217,315 employment contracts were formalized in Catalonia, 16.1% more than in February and 7.7% more than a year ago. In the State as a whole, seasonally adjusted affiliates exceeded 22 million for the first time, a historic record for employment.

Compared to March of last year, there were 8,289 fewer unemployed people in Catalonia, which means a decrease of 2.50% in one year. At the state level, March ended with 2,419,712 people registered with public employment services, 22,934 fewer than in February (-0.94%) and 160,426 fewer than a year ago (-6.22%).

In fact, the unemployment figure registered in March in Catalonia is the lowest for the third month of the year since 2008, while the affiliation figure of 3.88 million is the highest in a March month in the last 22 years, according to the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat. The Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, stated in a press release that "the data once again demonstrate that the Catalan business fabric is robust" and emphasized the objective of bringing good results "to the maximum number of families." The Secretary of Labor, Paco Ramos, boasted, stating: "The unemployment and employment data show that, from the government of the Generalitat, workers, companies, and social and economic agents are doing things right, both in terms of economic activity and employment growth. Now is the time to improve the quality of employment so that prosperity is shared, as long as the international context minimally accompanies us."

Despite this data, Pimec assures that the year-on-year reduction in unemployment in Catalonia is lower than in the State as a whole, and points to "a certain stagnation in the improvement of the labor market". In this regard, the entity's general secretary, Josep Ginesta, has stated that “the reduction in unemployment is positive, but it continues to be insufficient if we consider the current economic context and the international comparison. We are not taking full advantage of the growth potential to generate more and better employment”. For its part, Foment del Treball indicates that the Catalan labor market shows signs of "structural exhaustion".

Sustained growth

According to data released by the Spanish government, employment has grown steadily in recent years, with almost 3.4 million more affiliates since 2018. In the last year, the system has added more than half a million workers, in a context of accelerating job creation. The executive maintains that this increase has been accompanied by a change in the quality of work. The number of affiliated women has reached a historic high, with nearly 10.4 million, 1.8 million more than in 2018. Furthermore, there are five million more workers with permanent contracts than before the labor reform, while the temporality rate has decreased by 13 percentage points and is below half of previous levels. Among young people, affiliation exceeds three million and temporality has fallen by about 30 points since the reform.

Minutes before the data became public, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, made public a message on the social network X celebrating that "for the first time in history" the State has reached 22 million affiliates to Social Security. Sánchez posted a video where he appears with a Spanish national team shirt and the number 22, stating that the State "has the best team". "You are the ones who lift, push, and build this country. A team that is making history," he writes, because "together we make the best possible country." A while later, the first vice president of the Spanish government and Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, clarified that the record figure has been achieved in "seasonally adjusted terms". He also celebrated that the "balanced economic growth model" generates "more and better jobs".

By regions and sectors

Unemployment fell in March in the four Catalan demarcations. In Barcelona, there were 241,881 unemployed registered, 1,756 fewer than the previous month (-0.72%) and 4,521 fewer than a year ago (-1.83%). Proportionally, the most significant decrease was recorded in Girona with 27,867 people on the unemployment lists, 857 fewer than in February (-2.98%) and 1,848 fewer than in March of last year (-6.22%). In Lleida, there were 15,774 people registered on the unemployment lists, 220 fewer than the previous month (-1.38%) and 425 fewer than in March of last year (-2.62%), while in Tarragona there were 37,954 unemployed, 944 fewer than the previous month (-2.43%) and 1,495 fewer than a year ago (3.79%).

By sectors, registered unemployment in Catalonia only grew in agriculture, with 29 more unemployed, while it fell in the rest, especially in the services sector, with 2,739 fewer unemployed, and construction, with 754 fewer unemployed. In industry, the number of people registered in employment service offices fell by 273. The number of unemployed who did not have previous employment also decreased by 40 people.

Hiring, on the eve of Easter week, also improved in March, with 217,315 new contracts in Catalonia, 30,181 more than in February (+16.13%) and 15,627 more than a year ago (+7.75%). Of the more than 217,000 new contracts, 96,571 were permanent and 120,744 were temporary. At the national level, the total number of contracts registered during the month of March was 1,311,070, an increase of 144,469 (12.4%) more than in the same month of the previous year. Of these, 576,532 employment contracts are permanent and represent 44% of all contracts.